


State

by Koschei_Oakdown



Category: Green Lantern - All Media Types
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-20
Updated: 2019-03-20
Packaged: 2019-11-26 11:36:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,421
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18180083
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Koschei_Oakdown/pseuds/Koschei_Oakdown
Summary: No one is happy





	State

**Author's Note:**

> Credit to DC Comics

Not for the first time, Hal was finding it difficult to sleep. The darkness, the silence but for the cars occasionally driving past outside, was oppressive. Whenever he closed his eyes, his mind started racing, wouldn't turn itself off because he missed Sinestro and he hadn't yet managed to train himself not to.

In the past, whenever Hal couldn't sleep, he'd had a simple solution. Call Sinestro, who was either awake because of their time differences or ready to engage in sleepy conversation. Adorably sleepy conversation, Hal smiled just thinking about it.

If that wasn't enough, Sinestro would have willingly dropped everything, even his needed sleep, to be with Hal. Because he liked Hal. But he didn't anymore. Or he never had, was just pretending, and Hal's smile was gone as quickly as it had appeared. This wasn't helping, was only increasing his turmoil, and he couldn't just lie here anymore.

Thinking vaguely of maybe climbing on the roof to see the stars, Hal got out of bed, put on his ring, and made his way to the door. There was where he slammed into a solid figure travelling in the opposite direction, towards him. Immediately, arms wrapped around his body, held him close, and Hal drew in a sharp breath. The hold on him was achingly recognisable.

It wasn't however, painful. Not in a physical way, far too soft, far too gentle for that. "I didn't expect to find you awake, Hal," Sinestro murmured to him, breath in Hal's hair, and it was like nothing was different, like Hal had never been betrayed. "Do you have trouble sleeping?"

Spilling everything he was thinking to Sinestro seemed like such a good idea, because it was habit and Hal couldn't control himself. Just from the touch, of having Sinestro there, his knees were weak and he treasured every breath he could feel against him. Rationality had been thrown out the window, he didn't care for the reasons he shouldn't be giving in to this right now.

Feather light lips brushed his neck, made it hard to speak and to think. In the dark, all his senses were heightened. When he allowed his eyes to flutter shut, that effect was only increased, but he felt off balance, had to reach out for support. His nails dug into the back of Sinestro's neck, near its base, and Sinestro's teeth scraped at his jaw in response.

These days, hopelessness and misery were the only things Hal could feel. There was no room for anything else, certainly not contentment. But that was what Hal felt now, warmth flooding every part of him. He didn't want to let it go in favour of not being a deluded idiot.

Over Hal's cheek, Sinestro's nose travelled, until it was beside Hal's own nose and there was a cool breath on his lips. When Sinestro's mouth finally closed over Hal's, he welcomed it, arched up into it, and brought Sinestro's head down for further access. Really, he couldn't say he wasn't participating. But then Sinestro made a mistake, moved to entwine his fingers with Hal's.

The touch of fingers to Hal's right hand brought him back to his senses with a hard jolt, and he withdrew from the contact like he'd been burned. If Sinestro had been about to steal Hal's ring, he could've succeeded, and Hal couldn't allow him another opportunity. He pushed Sinestro's head away from him too, though he hated to do it and couldn't bring himself to back off any further.

"Stop it." Barely above a whisper did Hal speak, unable to muster up the strength for anything more commanding. Sinestro's eyes were centimetres from his, he could still taste the kiss, was reminded every time he inhaled Sinestro's breath. It was too sweet, how could it be so sweet when Sinestro really, really, wasn't?

Everything was lit by the soft green light of Hal's ring, the light that was covering him. So it was easy to make out the features of Sinestro's face, still just a few centimetres from Hal's. His eyelashes, his nose, his lips, his cheekbones, everything was exactly as Hal remembered. Exactly as haunted his dreams, the ones where he woke up sobbing with his teeth biting down on his hand.

Now though, his nightmares were distant memories, as much as Hal tried to recall, tried to rustle up an emotion, any emotion, that would have him wanting Sinestro to get away from him. And Sinestro wasn't helping, of course not, he probably enjoyed every second of this, watching Hal suffer.

"It must be nice," Hal said then, with just a hint of bitterness, and his hands were on Sinestro's shoulders, wavering between pulling him close and pushing him away, "to be as cold as you. Then I wouldn't -" Hal broke himself off, felt he was losing his composure, voice cracking - "Then I wouldn't feel like this is ripping me apart."

Torn in two directions, Hal desperately wanted comfort but the only person who could give it to him was the cause of all his trouble. Nevertheless, he hardly cared, his need outweighed the pain Sinestro had caused him and he buried his face in Sinestro's neck. The arms encircling him were a protective bubble, nothing could hurt him, he didn't have to think of anything other than Sinestro's embrace.

"I find it difficult to sleep too," Sinestro let him know. There was no attempt to one up Hal about who was worse off due to this whole thing, it was just stated as an honest fact. "I think about how I wish you were with me. Sometimes it is all I can do to remain in my place of exile and not beg for you to join me. The words I would use, the promises I would make, they race in my mind..."

Just knowing Sinestro felt somewhat like Hal did was calming, even if it all could have been fake. But Hal chose to believe, though he would likely dismiss it all as lies later. "We could have the universe," Sinestro was saying, his words increasing in intensity. "It would be at our feet. If you accompanied me back to Qward, Hal, nothing would stand in our way. Certainly not this distance."

The knee-jerk reaction of a resounding denial Hal repressed, because he could tell how much this meant to Sinestro, could practically taste his desperation. And really, he could understand it. If he stuck with the way his life was going so far, at some point, he'd have to unclamp his fingers from where they were leaving bruises on Sinestro's skin. But if he went with Sinestro, he could hold on as long as he liked.

"I want to," Hal confessed, it muffled by where he'd pressed his mouth to Sinestro's shoulder. "So much. As long as I'm with you, there's always going to be a part of me that wants to stay, damn the consequences. But I can't think like that. It's not good for me. If I have to sacrifice everything else I've ever worked for - I can't do it."

Fortunately, Sinestro didn't seem upset, but Hal was judging off the lack of extreme disagreeable action alone. Fingers tangled in his hair, perhaps a little tighter than they should be but Hal preferred it this way, preferred how Sinestro seemed seconds from ripping his hair from its roots. There was something comforting about the sharp discomfort.

"I could make you," was Sinestro's determined answer, slipping into the rough tone of a growl. It sent a shiver down Hal's spine. "If it is truly the only way you will ever allow yourself to be happy." Those fingers slowly pulled Hal's head back, only becoming painful if he didn't follow the movement. He did, quite obediently.

"With you as my prisoner," Sinestro continued. "I could return to Qward and you would have no choice but to cooperate. Your place is with me, Hal, you must know that." It was beginning to make Hal uneasy, even as he wished to lose himself in the controlling grip Sinestro still had on him. "No one would take you away from me again."

To Hal's regret, Sinestro had finally gone just a little too far. It didn't matter how he suddenly thought getting kidnapped by Sinestro would be the best thing ever, he curled his fingers over into a fist and drove them into Sinestro's stomach. With a pained gasp, Sinestro released him and Hal said bitterly, moving away, "I'd rather be sad."


End file.
